Three bar continuous wall outlet



- Aug. 11,

1959 E. R. GRIBBEN THREE BAR CONTINUOUS WALL OUTLET Filed March so, 1956 F I! J v 5 ,9,

a F I .19 l 5 a INVENTOR. if?! I? G'P/EiE/V ATI'D RNEYB United States Patent() THREE BAR CONTINUOUS WALL OUTLET Earl R. Gribben, Polk, Ohio Application March 30,1956, Serial No. 575,252

1 Claim. (Cl. 339-21) This invention relates to wall or outlet sockets or boxes for use in walls of buildings, particularly of the type having continuous bus-bars with corresponding open sockets or slots, and in particular a continuous wall out- "let having three spaced bars with three continuous slots and the slots are positioned to retain prongs of plugs wherebythe prongs contact the bus-bars behind the slots.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a continuous three-wire wall outlet or socket forhousehold lights and electrical appliances to provide a neutral terminal or ground to prevent injury to children and other operators cord and in numerous instances individuals are injured.

With this thought in mind this invention contemplates using a ;three wirecircuit throughout a household and spacing slots leading to bus-bars of the circuit the same distance as slots of conventional wall or outlet sockets or boxes whereby conventional electric cords are adapted to be used in such circuits and wherein three prong plugs, with one prong positioned to contact a neutral conductor, may also be used.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for grounding conventional electric cord circuits for electric lights and other household appliances.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination continuous wall outlet having a plurality of bus-bars in which one combination of the bars may be used for a circuit of one voltage, such as 110 volts and another combination for a different voltage such as 220 volts.

Another important object of the invention is providing continuous wall outlets having a plurality of bus-bars in which one bar provides a ground.

A further object of the invention is to provide a three wire circuit for a continuous outlet in which the wires are adapted to be connected to a conventional wall switch.

A still further object is to provide a continuous electrical outlet having upper and lower bars for a conventional electric circuit and a middle bar for providing a ground.

And a still further object is to provide a three wire electrical outlet of the continuous type in which the outlet is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the invention embodies a strip of material, such as molding having spaced open slots in the face with continuous cavities in registering relation with the slots and having recesses in which arcuate bus bars are resiliently held extended upwardly above the slots with arcuate inter- 2,899,668 Patented Aug. 11, 195.9

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2 mediate surfaces thereof projecting downwardly and positioned to be engaged by prongs inserted in the slots, two of said bus-bars being connected to a sourcetof electric-current and another of said bus-bars being connected to a ground.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through an enclosure, such as a room of a building showing the improved .triple outlet in elevation and also in section, and also showing wires extended from bus-bars in the recesses of the .cavities of the molding or strip of material.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a wall of a building showing corner sections for retaining bus-bars of electrical outlets in position within a wall, or molding.

Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the mounting vof a plurality of bus-bars in a molding strip or the like.

Figure 4 is a view showing a connection between arcuate bus-bars at the corners of a room or building with ends of the bus-bars positioned upon an L-shaped bracket.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the three bus-bars with the conventional electric lamp cord plugged into the outlet and engaging the upper and middle bar for obtaining a volt circuit, the intermediate and lower bar also providing a circuit which may be 110 .volts or 220 volts.

Figure 6 is also a diagrammatic view showing the three bus-bars with an appliance having a special plug contacting the upper and lower bars toobtain-a 220 volt circuit, the middle bar being adapted to provide aground.

.Figure 7 is a similar view showing the three bus-bars with a plug having three prongs, one being positioned to engage the upper bar, another the intermediate bar and another the lower bar.

Referring ,now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denote corresponding partsthcimproved triple bar continuous wall outlet of this invention-includes -a casing in the form of a molding strip 10, an upper busbar 11 in a recess 12 of a cavity 13 from which a slot 14 extends, an intermediate bus-bar 15 in a recess 16 of a cavity 17 from which a slot 18 extends and a lower busbar 19 in a recess 20 of a cavity 21 from which a slot 22 extends.

The bars 11, 15, and 19 may be of any suitable material providing good electrical conductors and the bars may be of any suitable shape in cross section. In the design shown the bars are arcuate in cross section wherein spring inherent therein retains the bars in position in the recesses.

The bars may be connected to electrical circuit wires, such as the wire 23 which extends through an opening 24 in the bar and which is secured to the inner surface of the bus-bar by braising, soldering, welding or the like as indicated by the numeral 25, and as shown in Fig. 4. Also as shown in Fig. 4 the ends of the bars are positioned on and secured to an L-shaped bracket having arms 26 and 27 whereby with the bar secured to the bracket connections between ends of the bars are not required.

In the diagram illustrated in Fig. 5 a conventional lamp cord having wires 28 and 29 leading to prongs 30 and 31 is illustrated and with the prongs extended from a plug the plug is adapted to be inserted through the slots 14 and 18 or through the slots 18 and 22 as may be desired. In such instances it may be desired to wire the bus-bars so that with the prongs inserted through the slots 14 and 18 a 110 volt circuit is obtained and with the prongs in the slots 18 and 22, a 220 volt circuit is; obtained.

In the diagram illustrated in Fig. 6 an electrical cord having wires 33 and 32., is illustrated, and the wires are connected to prongs 34 and 35, respectively, the prongs being mounted in a special plug in which the distance between the prongs is twice that of conventional prongs whereby, for a 220 volt circuit it is impossible to use a 110 volt cord. In this design the bus-bar 15 is neutral. The top and bottom bars may also be used for 110 volt circuits thereby requiring a special plug for conventional electric light and appliances.

In the design illustrated in Fig. 7 a 110 volt third bar grounded circuit is illustrated wherein with the top bar positive, the middle bar neutral and the bottom bar directly connected to a ground a foolproof plug in circuit with a ground is assured. In this design a special plug is provided with three prongs, one prong 36 being connected by a wire 37 to a positive terminal, another prong 38 connected by a wire 39 to a neutral terminal, and another prong 40 connected by a wire 41 to a ground 42, In this design the lower bus-bar 19 is also grounded by a wire 43 to a post 44.

With the parts assembled as illustrated and described the three bar continuous wall outlet is installed around a room with inside corners formed as illustrated in Fig. 3 and with the mitre of outside corners formed on an opposite angle and, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the molding or housing may be positioned on a strip of molding 45 or positioned on the upper edge of a conventional wall board or in the corner at the intersection of the floor and wall and one of the bus-bars may be connected to a positive terminal of an electric current supply line, another to the negative terminal and the other to a ground, and it will be understood that the ground may be located at the center, or at the top or bottom, as may be desired. By this means the bus-bars may be connected whereby conventional electric cord plugs may be used or the distance between the prongs may be increased so that only upper and lower bars may be contacted, or plugs may be provided with three prongs whereby all three bars may be contacted.

With this combination circuits having 110 volts may be obtained or circuits having 220 volts may be used or circuits having positive and negative terminals and a ground may be used.

the lower wall of the slot and with the upper wall of the cavity higher than the upper wall of the slot, thereby providing an overhanging flange defining the upper wall of the slot and a side wall of the cavity, a resilient conductive strip positioned in each cavity, each conductive strip being arcuate in cross-section with the edges thereof engaging the upper corners of the cavity and with the middle portion thereof extending below the upper wall of the slot, each conductive strip being held in position by its inherent resiliency, the vertical distance between the middle portion of each conductive strip and the lower wall of the cavity being such as to resiliently grip the prong of a connector plug therebetween, each conductive strip having an aperture therethrough, a conductor wire extending through said aperture and being soldered to the inner surface of the conductive strip, and the end of each conductive strip being positioned on and secured to one leg of a flat, L-shaped bracket, the other leg of said bracket being adapted to be secured to the conductive strip of an adjacent unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,958,539 Hicks May 15, 1934 2,216,765 Clayton Oct. 8, 1940 2,351,632 OBrien June 20, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 930,770 France Aug. 25, 1947 

